Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Vintage Thingies Thursday: Memorial Day

With the Memorial Day weekend upon us, I thought some patriotic images might be appropriate for Vintage Thingies Thursday. I would never think to send a Memorial Day postcard myself, but a little souvenir card tucked into the corner of a mirror, or on the fridge with a magnet would be a nice reminder to be thankful for the men and women we have lost in battle.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I, when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war. It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead. This information is from U.S. Memorial Day History, a site with poems, prayers, speeches, and ideas for ways to observe.

In 2000, Congress passed a resolution creating a National Moment of Remembrance, which asks that at 3:00 PM local time, all Americans "voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a Moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps".
Enjoy the holiday weekend with your family, after you check in with the Vintage Thingies Thursday participants at ColoradoLady!

Really great post...funny thing is, I always thought of this holiday as a remembrance of the armed forces, but you know what? My husbands family SERIOUSLY always put the focus on going to the cemetery and placing flowers on a loved ones grave, and not for service members...I always thought that was the strangest thing I had ever heard of, but never said anything....loved this!!! At least it confirmed I am not crazy.

Good post. I like the nice old graphics and the information.I was wandering around your blog and found the post about blue houses. So pretty. I wish we had a blue house in our neighborhood. Everyone has been painting their houses beige. Mine is green. I'ma bit tired of beige. Wonder why no one chooses blue?Kathy

Lovely cards! We all should remember the fine men and women who lost their lives for our freedom. We get so wrapped up in barbeques and picnics that we need to be reminded of the true importance of this day. A great VTT post!

Thanks for remembering our servicemen. I laughed when i read Suzanne's post, because when I married my husband 3 1/2 years ago, the first Memorial Day, he told me we had to take flowers to all the relatives graves, back for generations since his 95 year old father is still alive. Curious how family customs come about!

I loved the history of Memorial Day and still today, a lot of the older folks I know,still call it Decoration Day....and in several small towns..they will still have cemetery working days when all the graves will be cleaned off and new flowers planted and arrangements brought.. Happy VTT..have a lovely weekend.

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